Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Is Zhu Miao Her Contracted Beast?

Few people came here. It was a fine place to kill and steal. Now and then Disciples from small sects and minor clans passed through; their cultivation was low, and the gray-robed Cultivators relied on that to do evil.

Their leader had Mid Golden Core strength. His attacks were vicious, and with a dozen helpers, even the guzheng-wielding Female Cultivator, also Mid Golden Core, soon struggled to keep up.

“Three Fellow Daoists, help us!” Ji Zi Cang’s voice grew more urgent.

“What are you yelling for? I’ll send you off first, then bring them to keep you company!” the leader barked.

“Boss, those three look loaded!” one gray-robed Cultivator said, greed flashing in his eyes as he stared at Shen Sang Ruo’s group.

“Then what are you waiting for? Go! We score big this time!”

Several gray-robed Cultivators charged straight at Shen Sang Ruo, Ye Huai, and Bai Ruo An.

Shen Sang Ruo finally moved, Luan Feather Fan in hand.

Knowing there was no place for them to help, Ye Huai and Bai Ruo An stepped back behind her.

“Ha, two grown men hiding behind a little miss. Pathetic,” the leader jeered, and the rest burst into laughter.

Seeing this, the man on the elephant seemed to lose hope.

Bai Ruo An shook his head, as if pitying them: “You lot look familiar.”

“What do you mean, familiar?” the leader frowned, baffled by the stray remark.

His answer was three fan-flicks from Shen Sang Ruo.

Wherever the Glazed Flame swept, the gray-robed Cultivators turned to ash in an instant. There wasn’t even a scream. No one had time to react before they drifted away on the wind.

Bai Ruo An rubbed his chin and smiled faintly as he corrected himself: “I misspoke. They’re ash-level old friends.”

The fire skimmed past the elephant without burning them.

Ji Zi Cang stared, stunned, and didn’t come back to himself for a long beat. [More than ten people, gone in the blink of an eye? So strong.]

The Female Cultivator reacted first. She flipped down from the elephant, came to stand before Shen Sang Ruo’s group, and cupped her hands: “Lin Qian Yin. Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for lending a hand.”

“It was just a small effort,” Shen Sang Ruo said with a slight curve of her lips.

Ji Zi Cang also climbed down and thanked her: “If we hadn’t met you, our lives would have ended here.”

Lin Qian Yin was a Rogue Cultivator. The two had been friends for years. Meeting on the road, they decided to train here together. They had not expected to run into bandits, and what Shen Sang Ruo’s group had just seen was what happened next.

“Is that your Spirit Beast? I heard you are a Disciple of the Beast Taming Sect,” Shen Sang Ruo asked, looking up at the elephant.

Its eyes, big as glass beads, also looked at her, gaze both curious and excited.

“Yes,” Ji Zi Cang replied, a trace of pride on his face. “I raised him since he was small. He’s very gentle and obedient.”

The next moment, the elephant suddenly whipped its trunk around wildly, trying to scoop Shen Sang Ruo up onto its back.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing!” Ji Zi Cang yelped, scrambling to stop him. “I just praised you as gentle!”

Before the trunk could curl around her, light shot from between Shen Sang Ruo’s brows.

A little black-and-white ball landed on her shoulder, glowering at the giant elephant with open hostility. Its beady eyes seemed to spell two words: [How dare you.]

The elephant, faced with a tiny thing not even as big as its eyeball, actually froze.

Feeling wronged, it drew its trunk back. It only wanted to nuzzle her. It wasn’t going to steal anyone away. Zhu Miao lifted his chin in triumph. [No nuzzling allowed.]

Ji Zi Cang let out a breath, patted the elephant’s head, and sent the sulking Big Chunk back into his sea of consciousness: “Good work. Rest a bit.”

Shen Sang Ruo gathered the little one into her arms and spoke a touch sternly: “Do not be fierce to other beasts.”

After spending so long together, she had learned a bit of Zhu Miao’s temper. She could feel a strong possessiveness in him toward her. She didn’t know where it came from.

Zhu Miao stuck his rump out and closed his eyes, turning his head away to show he wasn’t listening.

Ye Huai and Bai Ruo An were already used to scenes like this. Lin Qian Yin, though, was curious: “Is it your Spirit Beast?”

She had just seen Shen Sang Ruo use a fan as her weapon, so she didn’t seem to be like Ji Zi Cang and the other Beast Cultivators.

Shen Sang Ruo shook her head: “No. He’s a Demonic Beast. Someone asked me to take care of him for a while.”

“Huh? He isn’t?” Ji Zi Cang looked surprised.

Shen Sang Ruo glanced at him: “Why do you say that, Fellow Daoist Ji?”

Because it concerned Shen Sang Ruo, Ye Huai and Bai Ruo An also turned to listen.

Ji Zi Cang’s eyes went back and forth between her and the ball in her arms, his brows knitting tight: “I can feel the same link between you and him as the one between me and Big Chunk.”

“Big Chunk?”

“The elephant just now. My Contracted Beast.”

“So you mean he is also my Junior Sister’s Contracted Beast?” Bai Ruo An asked in surprise.

Ji Zi Cang nodded.

“But I never formed any contract with him,” Shen Sang Ruo said. She lifted Zhu Miao and looked him in the eye. The little fellow deliberately turned his gaze aside.

She had heard the Bonding Contract between Beast Cultivators and Spirit Beasts was very complicated. She didn’t even know the steps. Thinking back from when she met Zhu Miao until now, she truly hadn’t noticed anything odd.

Ji Zi Cang described a few common Bonding Contract methods. Shen Sang Ruo recognized none of them and was sure she hadn’t formed a Bonding Contract with Zhu Miao.

“That shouldn’t be,” Ji Zi Cang muttered, circling them several times. “He just came out of your sea of consciousness.”

Only a Contracted Beast could exist inside a Cultivator’s sea of consciousness. That made him even more certain Zhu Miao was hers.

Shen Sang Ruo thought of Zhu Miao’s special nature. After all, he was the Demonic Beast who could suppress the Old Shaman. “Maybe there is another reason,” she said. “Zhu Miao is not an ordinary Demonic Beast.”

“The Beast Taming Sect is nearby,” Ji Zi Cang suggested. “Why don’t you come back with me and ask my Master? My Master, Yuan Jin, understands Beast Taming very well.”

Shen Sang Ruo had heard Yuan Jin’s name. In fact, the whole Cultivation World knew it. As Ji Zi Cang said, he was skilled in Beast Taming, especially in reforming vicious Demonic Beasts. She hadn’t expected Ji Zi Cang to be his Disciple.

She studied the black-and-white ball in her hands for a long moment. He had already swapped in an innocent, clueless look.

In the end, she decided to visit Yuan Jin at the Beast Taming Sect. After all, Zhu Miao was important to the Phantom Mirage Domain. If he had really formed a contract with her and become her Contracted Beast, she would have no way to explain it to the Old Shaman.

Of course, she thought this was unlikely.

Together, the five of them set off for the Beast Taming Sect.